Happy Birthday to you!

What a busy, busy weekend. This weekend Mr P turned 40 and my sister turned 50. Happy Birthday to you both. We have had a lovely weekend but more of that later. Firstly I am going to start by saying a big thank you to Vanessa over at Hapi-ness who was my "too good to eat" swap partner.



On Friday morning I woke up feeling in rather a grumpy mood, you know the sort of mood when you even start to get on your own nerves let alone everyone elses. Luckily the postman knew exactly the right sort of parcel to deliver which was gauranteed to snap a girl out of a grumpy mood.









In this lovely little box I found the following goodies, all lovingly wrapped in flowery tissue paper.









I had a lovely hand knitted strawberry keyring, two very cute biscuit cutters (one bunny and the other a duck) some lemon and lime coloured silicone cupcake cases, some funky little cupcake flags, a cherry smelling eye shadow compact, hand printed cupcake ribbon, a slice of pie (was a gorgeous smelling soap), hot chocolate mix, a very cute postcard and finally (I think that was all) a recipe for chocolate toffee cupcakes. I was indeed a very lucky girl. I am hoping to make the cakes this week when I get a moment. So thank you Venessa you were a great swap partner indeed!


So onto the weekend, on Saturday the lovely Mr P turned 40. We were very lucky bunnies as the in-laws decided to treat us, themselves and my sister-in-law and her boyfriend to a day and night at Danesfield House Hotel and Spa in Marlow. We all get on really well and enjoyed a truly lovely day in great company, ate lots of lovely food, quaffed champagne and woke up this morning feeling a little worse for wear! There is a price to be paid for too much good living!



After unpacking we headed to the terrace and sat in the sun over looking the gorgeous gardens sipping Pimms - oh this is most definitely the life for me. After a leisurely Pimms I headed off to the Spa and enjoyed a very relaxing aromatherapy facial followed by a pedicure. My lovely mother-in-law even treated me to some delicious smelling facial products and some fancy new nail varnishes.



In the evening we all got dressed up for dinner and enjoyed a lovely meal washed down with P's favourite champagne tipple. We retired to the great hall for after dinner drinks around the roaring open fire. The lovely evening finally came to an end and we rolled into bed well after midnight.



This is our room, we had a tiny little door that led to the balcony and overlooked the gardens and the River Thames.




A picture of the rather comfy and rather large bed.

This is the back of Danesfield House.

Here's a picture of me all dressed up for dinner, excuse the stumpy legs and cankles! I'm sure I'm not that stumpy in real life.

This morning we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and sadly left to return to the real world. We had to go and pick up the little ones from their sleepover. My friend Julia was very kind in having them both overnight (plus her own two). Apparantly they were both very well behaved and went to bed at a reasonable time.

So back home and just enough time to get ready for party number two. I had invited both my sisters and the in-laws around for tea to celebrate Mr P's birthday and my sister's 50th birthday with the little ones. We had a manic tidy up and laid the table ready for a birthday tea. We threw on a vintage cloth (CS find) added some lovely smelling stocks and set out tiny sandwiches and rolls, little sausages and sausage rolls, crisps and a cake stand full of cream dainties, not to mention a very tasty key lime pie.

Followed by some singing, some blowing and then a bit more munching.

A birthday boy of a certain age most definitely needs a little helper with lots of puff!



Here is the yummy birthday cake, which sadly no longer looks like this.

Well that was our busy weekend. I am looking forward to a slightly more restful day tomorrow, though I have a sneaky feeling its going to involve rather a lot of house work and catching up.

I hope you all had a great weekend too.

Alison

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